Ka-blam works

Well I finally got the Ka-blam section to work so there.

Ka-BLam

I heard about this site a few months ago and I had added a link to my site. However for some reason it didn't work so I decided to just make a regular post and go from there.

It's all clear

It's been a while since an update. I've seen Star Trek and I loved it. I got a job at ITT Tech as an instructor in 3ds Max. I start June 8th. Mytoons.com bit the dust, another victim of the bad economy or poor management depending on who you talk to. I've been mulling over some ideas for a comic book. Which brings me to the point of this entry.

I have been studying the art style known as ligne claire and I have fallen in love with it. Ligne claire (clear line in French) is a style popularized, if not created by, Hergé the father of Tintin. On the surface the style is very simplistic. But it requires a great amount of disipline. If you look at the ligne claire books there is an immense amount of detail and the stories are heavily researched.

One of the problems with American comics, at least in the mainstream, is that it's pretty much either superhero, horror or licensed properties. With mainstream European and Japanese comics it's pretty much "balls-to-the-wall" when it comes to style and content. In these countries comcis have always been respected by children and adults alike. It wasn't until relatively recently that some of that respect came to the American scene. The problem, however, is just what I mentioned above: limited art and story styles in the mainstream. How long will the respect last if we do not diverify.

Of course the standard caveat applies here: I love superheroes and horror and licensed properties as much as any other fanboy. But I believe that we need to broaden our scope, both as consumers and as artists. We know about the independent market but "slice-of-life" stories can't be all there is to our industry. Certainly there are some independents out there that explore other story ideas and genres but what I am saying is that these shouldn't be niche markets within the industry.

The web and portable technoolgy have given us new venues for our stories but we have to reciprocate with good content. Why should European and Asian markets be the only ones to bask in diversity? I don't know what to do other than to produce and buy non-mainstream books and stop looking at that as "independent".

One of the ligne claire books that I found is The Rainbow Orchid by Garen Ewing. It's an adventure story a la Indiana Jones or H. Rider Haggard. I've read a few of the strips and I am impressed. However, it is a British book so it doesn't answer the question of what we Americans should do, but it is a beautiful book. It is online and he is already taking preorders at his site for the trade paperback. So take a look and search around the net and support these creators. We can all benefit.

Parents Television Council--A danger to liberty

I am no fan of the Osbourne family. I didn't like their show on MTV and I have no intention of watching their new show on Fox. They are fouled-mouthed celebrities with nothing better to do than to waste the time of those who do watch their shows.

That being said I had to roll my eyes today when I read that the Parents Television Council has sicced the dogs on Fox because of the Osbourne's new variety show. This is one of the groups that sit around watching a television show or a movie so that "you won't have to". People in groups like this either don't agree with people of free-will or they don't know about the channel or power buttons on their remote control.

Now it's one thing if a group of concerned parents ban together to help other like-minded parents to filter what their own children see. It's quite another thing when these groups are too lazy to turn the channel or better yet turn off the TV altogether. When the latter is the case these types of organizations tend to try to use the police powers of the government to force networks and stations to stop showing content that they find objectionable. The interesting thing about these kinds of groups is that there are similar groups on both sides of the political aisle. However, they are equally dangerous.

For every conservative group like the Parents Television Council, there are at least an equal number of liberal groups, like Newshounds ("We watch Fox [News] so you don't have to"), that pop up on the left. They are both dangerous to free-speech, especially when they try to force a network to pull a show using the government as a tool, or when they try to recreate the falsely named "Fairness Doctrine" to allegedly give equal time to opposing viewpoints. One tries to eliminate what they feel is objectionable programming outright. The other tries to manipulate the rules in such a fashion as to make it nearly impossible to air content due to oppressive regulation and the need to give all opposing views equal air time, whether or not sponsors will buy time for those views or not. Both are dangerous in a free society because they stifle free expression.

SOURCE: E! Online article

Updates

Well I have become a statistic. As of January 19, I became one of the millions in this country that have been laid off. But as a Christian I have been looking at this as an opportunity. I now have the time I need to build up my portfolio and demo reel.

Anyway, on the blog front I have been active on my "America Report" blog. I have sort of been syndicated on the "Libertarian Republican" blog. The owner has shown one of my cartoons with plans to show one or two a week. I have three new political cartoons up for viewing.

With the time that I now seem to have I am about to start up on the Hallowindow experiment that I mentioned a few months ago. Also apparently according to that entry I was out of the political cartoon business. Well, I guess my mood did swing back.

On that note I've also updated the link to the "Obama's Head" animation that I put up last year. I was tired of clicking onto the site and having the thing automatically play. It's somewhat disconcerting to hear your own disembodied voice speaking to you for the umpteenth time. So I linked to the YouTube version, because quite frankly I didn't want to rewrite the Flash version to have a play button.

Star Trek: The New Frontier

I just saw the newest trailer for the new Star Trek movie that will be out in May. I have to say that the fan-boy juices are flowing now (that seems disgusting). I like the look of most of the scenes that were in the trailer. My one concern is that the bridge of the Enterprise is too bright. It's even brighter than the bridge from Star Trek V, which I always hated for some reason.

"Kirk" and "Spock" (Quinto's younger version and Nimoy's older version) are cool. Zoe Saldana's "Uhura" is hotter than hot and she and "Kirk" get it on pretty quickly. And Simon Pegg and Karl Urban as "Scotty" and "Bones" respectively have two funny lines. Pegg's always a hoot.

One of my favorite things about this movie is seeing "Captain Christopher Pike" as young and vital rather than confined to a beeping box on wheels. Bruce Greenwood seems to have the gravitas to pull it off.

The ship is beefier and has more detail than the show's featureless model. The visual fx are much better than even the recent TNG movies. I like the new look of the transporter beam and the warp-speed effect is cool, as well.

All in all I am looking forward to this movie. It may even be one that I venture out to the theater for. It will certainly go in my DVD library.

Hallowindow early

For the past two years I have been following the Halloween work of Mark Gervais, an animator from Calgary, Alberta in the Great White North. Since 2007 Gervais has been creating what he calls Hallowindows. The interesting thing is that he rear-projects movies that he created in Illustrator, Flash, and After Effects, in the front window of his house. He runs the movie, which is usually about two minutes long, in a loop throughout the trick-or-treating. You can also buy a DVD compilation that has the first two (official) Hallowindows, along with four themed pieces like spiders, ghosts, etc. The original was apparently so inspiring that one of the directors of Total Drama Island created his own Hallowindow featuring characters from TDI entitled "Total Drama Halloween".

So being the insane person that I am I decided during this Halloween to do my own version of a Hallowindow for next Halloween. Wow that's early, right? Well not if you knew how big a procrastinator I am (see my grandiose plans to do political cartoons). The only real difference outside of the fact that mine will suck, is that I intend to do a haunted yard to go along with the window. At the very least it ought to be fun to try.

Props go to ColdHardFlash.com for the two stories on Gervais' work.

FYI: As far as the political cartoons go, I am out of that business, at least until my mood swings back that way. My guy lost and I am currently sucking sour grapes.

Below are the three Hallowindows. The first two are Gervais' separate movies. The third movie is the compilation video of the DVD that you can buy. Finally, we have Mark Thorton's TDI send-up.

Forgot Something

I forgot that in my previous post -1 I mentioned that I was close to releasing my first political cartoon since the YouTube debate. Well here it is. Just a little something to take the air out Obama's sails. Hope it enlightens or at least that you'll like it.

Yea!

I just received my copy of Adobe's Production Premium CS3. I was so stoked.

Unfortunately I currently only have 512 MB of RAM and the installer won't let me complete the installation. I ordered RAM with the purchase but it's coming from a separate vendor so I'm stuck until then. Yargh!

Oh well more time to read the manuals before my eyes glaze over with all the new features.

Where or where did I go?

Well it's been . . . five months since I last updated?! Wow! Oh well, I have been working on several projects and saving up to buy Adobe Production Premium CS3. Drool. If my "stimulus" check would hurry up and show in my checking account I would stimulate the economy, at least as far as Adobe or one of her retailers is concerned.

Anywho, I am about a day away from posting my first political cartoon since the YouTube debate. This is more along the lines of Mark Fiore's weekly animations, but from a Conservative viewpoint.

Also I am developing my own web series that is sort of a cross between The Incredibles and the Venture Bros. It will probably premiere, um next century. Oh well, one can dream.